Artist Statement

In today’s society, I find our everyday lives tend to eclipse our inner voice and ties to nature. We all share an innate need to create but if we can’t hear ourselves, what are we trying to communicate?

My work explores the relationship between the internal (mind) and external (our environment). It’s a reflection of my connection to today’s world, and a pursuit to re-connect people to themselves and their surroundings.

I’m drawn to printmaking’s inherent transformation: the image reversed, multiplied, each impression is slightly different. Mokuhanga’s transparent layering particularly resonates with how I think, each layer slowly reveals, building an image gradually. The way understanding accumulates over time.

About

Jessie Mariko is an artist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She received her Bachelor of Arts from the New School in New York City. She has participated in the Mokuhanga Innovation Laboratory Residency in Echizen, Japan, and in the Nat Art residency in Cantabria, Spain. She has exhibited with the Marin Society of Artists, at the Rosebud Gallery in San Francisco, with the City of Walnut Creek, and independently in Oakland. Currently, she works at the Center of Community Arts in Walnut Creek as an educator and administrator, and volunteers as a studio monitor at Diablo Valley College.